Carbon Innegra – The Difference

Posted by: Hell's Bay

Date: Dec 18, 2018 at 2pm

What’s next? This is a question we are constantly attempting to answer. As we pride ourselves on having the most cutting edge laminate schedule in the industry, asking “what’s next” is a tough question at times. Our perpetual goal at Hell’s Bay Boatworks is to create a better boat with better materials with no costs spared.

We began testing the material Carbon Innegra in 2013 after much persuasion from our composite engineers. The testing process began with the basics: getting the material in hand, creating test panels and stringently testing these panels in house. The initial impact and strength evaluations surpassed our guidelines. The panels were then sent to composite labs for confirmation. The gleaming results immediately led us to begin real world implementation into our product offering. Over the past 5+ years we have built numerous Carbon Innegra skiffs which have been subjected to real-world testing by ourselves and our pro staff.

After proving successful in the field, our focus shifted to how best to include Carbon Innegra into our current lineup. We decided to give the material one final (larger than life) test in the form of the 2018 Skiff Challenge. If Carbon Innegra could hold up to 44 hours of constant running across less than ideal conditions, we knew it could check all the boxes. After the Skiff Challenge win it was clear that Carbon Innegra gave us the speed and ride we hoped for without a single sign of stress. This was the final confirmation of the material’s capability and deservingness of use in building the World’s Finest Shallow Water Skiffs.

Unlike other manufacturers we keep components of structural integrity and build quality separate from the “standards/options” game. We have determined Carbon Innegra to be an integral part the best laminate schedule available, therefore we have implemented it into our line-up as a standard feature going forward.

Benefits

Lightweight

Innegra is the lightest fiber commercially available. The most common question when discussing a new material is: “What is the weight difference?” The range of weight savings differs slightly across models, but we can confidently say this generation of skiffs are lighter than the last.

Durable

In addition to having high UV resistance Innegra is not brittle and is able to withstand extreme wear and tear, improving the life of the part.

Damping

This is the most notable increase in performance we have seen in a single material change. Innegra dissipates and absorbs a tremendous amount of energy greatly reducing vibrations. This not only translates to a more solid feel under the feet in all water conditions, but further improves upon the silent hull that Hell’s Bay skiffs are known for when stalking fish.

Hydrophobic

In the extreme case where impact is made, unlike Kevlar, Innegra is water resistant. This stops further damage from occurring in the rare case a situation arises.

The list doesn’t end here, but these are the key benefits that led us to fully implement Innegra into our laminate schedule. At the end of the day, the decision was easy: Innegra has proven itself as the latest answer to our undying question of “what’s next?”